Elena Dubrovnik
Personal History Elena was born shortly after the Russian invasion of Afghanistan somewhere within the large forests outside Nizhny Novgorod. Her mother died shortly after childbirth leaving her father, an ex-Soviet Army soldier to care for his daughter. Most of her life was spent in the cold and desolate landscape of the countryside, trained by her father to be skilled in martial arts, knife fighting, hunting and tracking. Occasional trips to the nearby cities of Nizhny Novgorod and Moscow were also common between the two, but only as an extension of her father's (illegal) training regime. By the turn of the millennium, Elena's father was also embroiled with the Russian mafia due to his former ties with Soviet comrades - who believed he deserted their cause by going into hiding. To this end, he started pushing Elena further to her limits, going insofar as to physically and mentally torture her so as to prepare her for the future in case he was no longer around to help. It was through this intense period of her life that Elena started to exhibit the psychological traits she would now normally be associated with - a stiff upper lip, a desire for vengeance and of course, the "chameleon" form of play that allows her to blend in with the crowd. In 2005, the inevitable happened and Elena's father was gunned down by Russian mobsters during yet another visit by the duo to the capital. The young assassin escaped but the mafia of course were on her tail. Within a year or so, Elena secretly hid herself within the bustling city - relying on pickpocketing and burglary to stay alive - waiting for the right opportunity to strike back. In 2007, this came to pass and she subsequently avenged her father's murder by single-handedly taking down the assassins responsible as well as their families. From 2007-2011, Elena then spent most of her time traversing between Moscow and her family cabin in the forests where she continued training herself as a marksman, pickpocket, melee fighter and gymnast. She also continued her string of burglaries - sometimes from department stores, sometimes from Mafia fronts - and her vendetta against the Russian mob. This attracted a lot of attention from both the good and bad sides of the law - however thanks to her father's old Soviet connections, her location in the Nizhny Novgorod Oblast forests has never been discovered. In late 2011, Elena was eventually caught by the mob as she attempted to flee Moscow and then sadistically tortured somewhere underground - being stuffed into a small makeshift cell every night and treated like a dog. Throughout the week she spent underground, Elena studied the behaviors of her captors as well as their base layout without anyone noticing - this would come into use when at exactly the end of her week, the Russian burglar escaped from her prison, assassinated most of the mob members by spiking their vodka, stole more fenced property and made it back out into the open. Knowing that her captors and their friends would be hot on her trail, Elena found it best to turn herself into the authorities. Although her crime spree certainly would have lent her the death penalty outright, her sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in the Black Dolphin Prison down towards Kazakhstan. Her family cabin was still never revealed to authorities, though, and thus remained one of the Russian police system's most difficult cases. History with the Princess Thieves It was during her imprisonment in the Black Dolphin Prison that Elena first made contact with Valerie Smith, Annie Draco, Stephanie Chen and Betty Chavron. The foursome infiltrated Black Dolphin Prison in early 2012 and instigated a prison riot which eventually saw the Thieves rescuing and subsequently recruiting Elena into their circle of thieves. By the time all 10 ladies were gathered in Sydney by New Years Eve 2012, Elena was selected by Valerie to lead the Russian branch of Thieves. From the beginning of 2013 to mid-2014, Elena returned to Russia with a new fake identity and started training wannabe female thieves and assassins into her section using almost similar training techniques her father put her through. She was kept up to date about the events going on around the world involving the Thieves but never partook in such matters since she was too afar. She was also very cautious about working with other gangs and syndicates, especially in America where activity was turbulent. Alas her cries for the gang to be isolationist before things got out of hand came too late as the Thieves became embroiled in The Western War which led to their demise. Her last interaction with her fellow Thieves was at that moment of disbanding. She, along with the other 9, were given an encrypted email to go off the grid, start over with new identities and simply live their lives without getting caught since no-one will be around to save them from prosecution from that point on. Personality As mentioned above, Elena as a criminal harbored traits borne out of her father's strict training regime - a stiff upper lip, a desire for vengeance and of course, the "chameleon" form of deception that allows her to blend in with the crowd. She is also known to possess a streak of resilience and steadfast determination to her character - if she doesn't get what she wants the first time, she will find whatever trick in the book she can to accomplish her goal the next time round. Her nickname "The ***** from Moscow" stems from her personal desire to see things through no matter what - like Valerie she is tactical with her mind but unlike her, she sometimes lets blind rage and impatience get to her and hence she ends up acting viciously and brutally (but not to the extent of Coleen or Erica) to achieve her goals. Contrary to the definition and perceived stereotype, Elena does not act bitchy when interacting with others outside the Thieves syndicate but will come off as cold, reckless and vulgar to them (which Valerie has often had a hard but not impossible time of suppressing). Like the other burglars and soldiers in the Thieves, she has a knack for the upper-class lifestyle buying out rich and fancy articles of whatever suits her needs (using accounts set up by the Swiss section of the gang). Her particular specialty is old Russian Empire and Soviet relics. She doesn't however flaunt her riches like the others, instead sealing them away in a large safe built underneath the family cabin (which is also hidden from authorities). Also like the other Thieves, she does her best to stay away from romance and intimacy - only seeking to exploit those whenever she has to play the role of the femme fatale (although there are exceptions - 9 of them actually). Her level of care for her ladies is also notable among the Thieves since her treatment of them is more akin to a mother-daughter relationship. Personal Weapons, Skills and Equipment Skills *Expert Marksman *Expert Melee Fighter - Whether its with a knife or her bare fists, Elena can hold her own when it comes to close-up combat; one martial art in particular she has spent a lot of time practicing and refining since she started training with her father is sambo. *High-level Agility and Reflexes - As a burglar and a fighter, Elena has the prowess to move and react quickly to the situation she is in; this combined with her expertise in martial arts and knife fighting make for one deadly combination in a fight. *Expert Tracker - Living in a rural area, Elena was taught by her father at a very young age the common practice of hunting and tracking down prey; this skill has since been refined by Elena for "hunting prey" within urban environments - using her keen senses and sharp intellect, she is able to determine where certain things or people are/have been/have gone before coming up with her next move. She is also able to read people's facial expressions and body movements to determine if someone is onto her, e.g. *"Chameleon" Artist - While not necessarily a master of disguise, Elena has displayed very proficiently the ability to seemingly blend/disappear into the crowd like the metaphorical "chameleon" in order to escape or get close to her target. In addition, she can pass herself off as an ordinary citizen or criminal associate depending upon the situation. *Light-fingered - Being a burglar, it is very well that Elena has been practicing the art of stealing things under people's noses without grabbing their attention - even stealing other people's weapons. Standard Equipment *Ballistic Knife - Stolen from the Russian Mafia during one of her run-ins with them. She prefers to use this spring-loaded weapon as a last resort and as such has kept it hidden always in a back pocket of her pants. *NR-40 - A stainless steel combat knife inherited from her father from his time served in the Soviet Army. It also bears the engraving of a skull-and-crossbones on its handle. *Tokarev TT-33 - Another weapon inherited from her father's wartime arsenal. This handgun she especially holds dear to her heart to the point where she does not modify it in anyway save for the occasional cleaning and restoring (and the attaching of implements such as a silencer). *"She-Wolf" - A Dragunov SVD marksman rifle also inherited from her father's wartime arsenal and one that she has greatest proficiency with among other weapons supplied by her father, stolen from the Mafia or supplied through the Thieves. Recently she has modified this weapon to bear a laser sight accessory on its underside and also has a variety of scopes to go with whatever mission she is attending like Valerie with her F88-Austeyr.